You Before Me
by Otakufox913
Summary: Ever since he was born, Naruto Uzumaki has been hated, scorned, and ignored for reasons unknown to him. Naruto tries so hard to at least be able to have one friend in this cold village but no matter what he can not get anyone's attention, that is until he is teamed up with the most popular and biggest prick Sasuke Uchiha.
1. Chapter 1

It was a beautiful day in the Konoha village, mothers were out shopping and gossiping away with the neighbors about who has done what and who had done where. Men were busy chatting away about long forgotten times and childeren were at school; except for one. Naruto was rushing down the busy streets dodging people as he ran by, sparing a glimpse behind him every couple of seconds to see if anyone was following him. To his dissapointment, no one was behind him, no one was even sparing him a glance as he ran down the street towards the Hokage's monument plastered on the mountain behind the Hokage's office. Naruto had a wicked plan that would definately get him some attenttion. He runs by carrying a couple of paint cans and a brush, making sure not to tip or bump the can. When he arrived he glanced around before he began working on the tireing climb up the hill.  
"I wonder if Iruka-sensei has noticed that I'm not there" he ponders to himself as he ascends the mountain.  
Once he has climbed to the top, he ties his rope to a nearby rock and repels down to the Kage's faces. Starting with the first Hokage, Naruto gets out his paints and begins to ruin the Hokage's images one by one. By the time he has finsihed his masterpiece it was noon and he stomach was complaining about the lack of food in him. Naruto ignore's his complaing stomach and climbs onto the fourth hokage's head, looking at the village and its bustling life.  
"This will deffinately get me noticed" Naruto thought encouragingly.  
"Time passed by and soon one o'clock rolled around anoucing lunch time to be over and for everyone to get back to work. Naruto sighed sadly, an hour and no one has come out to yell at him or to tell him to get down and pa respect to the previous Hokage. Naruto hugs his knees tightly and rests his head in the niche it made./p  
"Why won't anyone notice me?"  
Feeling defeated, he sighed and stood up, climbing back up the mountain. He unhooked his rope and decided to skip school that day and head to the library instead to relax and feel better. Unlike the popular belief, Naruto was acutally smarter than others assumed he was. He only acted stupid to gain attention, though that gig seemed to get boring rather quickly. Naruto still hid his cleverness though, thinking it would be a good asset to surprise someone with.  
Naruto attened school often, although sometime he would skip it to go to the library or practice on his own sometimes when he thought it was pointless being at school. He didn't have any friends or acquaintances at school or in the village, as well as any relitves or clansmins. He dreaded going back to an empty house so he stayed out late often walking around the village under the street lights. Since he was still in school and had yet to aquire a team to go on missions, some of the village's money goes to his living and eating expenses. Though it is few, Naruto finds a way to steal some grub every now and then, hoping for the attention as well as the constant grumbling of his stomach to stop. Naruto walks down the street to the library imagining what his next meal will be when all of the sudden he was shoved down by some kids running by. He falls forward cathcing him self on his knees and hands, sucking his teeth at the slight pain from scratching them against the ground. The kids just run on by as if they didn't hit anything at all. Naruto picks himself up and wipes off the dirt, sighing at the slightly oozing scarcthes and bruises. More to his collection. He wipes his hands on his pants and continuse walking to the library.  
When he arrives the place is almost empty except for a couple of stragglers. Naruto heads to the sections ninjas use to study about their chakra and some moves he could possibly learn. Recently he has been stumped on the bushin no jutsu which he need to learn in order to graduate. He goes through many scroll, learning about many things except how to properly do the jutsu; however none of the scrolls help him understand the genjutsu. Naruto sighs angrily and returns the mountain of text back to their rightful place. There is only one place left he can think of to lool for help by himself. He gets up and heads out the library.  
"He shouldn't be there at this time of day."

Naruto arrives unnoticed at the Third hokage's house, stopping a couple of feet away from it to scout for guards or passerbys. He heads around to where he knew the Third kept his scrolls and books. Naruto hops up onto the window, his heart pounding as he fiddles with the window to unlock it. His sense heighten as he calms down and masks his chakra. He opens the window and enter the darken room. He grabs some gloves from his pocket and puts them on, careful not to leave and tracks as he makes his way towards the shelf filled with scrolls of mysterious content. He scans them until he finds the one he is looking for and gently picks it from its perch. He sits down on the floor and opens it, finding the kagebushin no jutsu to be written first in the scroll. He sits there and reads the scroll, jotting down what he reads onto some paper he brought along with. After he finished writning everything down, he looks at the clock hanging on the wall and decides it was best for him to leave. He gets up and gingerly places the scroll back in place, making sure it looked like it was in its original position before he arrived. He slinks over to the window and looks around before deciding to exit and lock the window, wiping the wood of the frame before he left. He ran into the woods until he found a nice area to practice the jutsu. He removed his gloves and began to work.

It was evening when Naruto felt he had mastered the technique. Feeling satisfied, exhausted and dirty, Naruto headed out of the forest and towards his crappy apartment. Once home, he turned around and locked the doors, heading straight to the kitchen. He b-lined towards the gas stove and quickly lit it, removing the paper with his notes on the jutsu. He hovered the paper over the fire until it lit, which he then threw into a metal bin and watched as it quickly dissolves into ashes. Satisfied and relieved, Naruto headed to the bathroom to take a quick shower. Once out he cooked some ramen and read some scrolls to review himself for the graduation test tomorrow. He couldn't wait to get a mission and get out of the village, though it would take some time before that would ever happen. After eating and review, he cleaned up and got ready for bed, setting his alarm real early and went to sleep, dreaming of being surrounded by friends and family.

Naruto woke up to his alarm, wiping his dampened cheeks.  
"Did I cry last night? oh well, it doesn't matter" he thought as he got up to prepare for the day.  
Lately Naruto woke up realy early in the morning to arrive to school before anyone else so as not to get shoved or bully all the time and to have some time to catch up on any lessons he has missed.  
"At least the bulling is some kind of attention" thought Naruto.  
He quicky gets ready, ignoring his wounds from the previous day and makes a quick breakfast of stale bread. He quickly eats it and heads on out, locking the door on his way.  
The walk to school was nice and peaceful in the early morning breeze and dim sunlight. Naruto enjoyed these walks; enjoyed taking in the beauty of the sunrise and taking his time to walk rather than rushing the crowd. He arrives at the school and unlocks the door with some ticks he has figured out. He smiles as he remembers the first time his snuck in early.  
"Iruka-sensei was so shocked I got in without a key or breaking the lock" he thought chuckling slightly. "Though I did get scolded for coming in that early."  
Naruto continued to do it to see if he could get a reaction out of Iruka but eventually, Iruka stopped to care since Naruto never did anything to the school or the classroom. Naruto sighs and closes the door,locking it again. He heads into his classroom and sits at his spot, looking around the empty room.  
"Soon it will be filled" he thought saddly, laying his head down on the table and closing his eyes, slowly drifting off to sleep.

 _A clouded night sky and a blood moon all blurred his vision, something giant and orange with red eyes obscured the view of the sky; it seemed troubles as it was thrashing around a raising its head. Naruto looks lower and sees two blurred faces, one with red and one with yellow hair. He can't hear what they are saying but something tells him it's important. The faces appear to smile and his heart tugs and his chest becomes heavy. Why does he feel like this? Who are these people? he thought. He hears his name being called in the distance, a familiar voice he recognizes as it become louder. He tries to reach out at the blurred faces but is pulled away until he can see nothing but blackness. A deep and growling voice resounds in his head before he is pulled back to the world._  
 **"Finally."**

"Naruto!" Iruka yells.  
Naruto jerks awake, sitting up and looking at Iruka, then around the room; still empty.  
"Classes will be starting soon, since you are already here why don't you take the test early?" Iruka nonchalantly inquires.  
"Sure, thank you."  
Naruto gets up and follows Iruka to the testing room, looking at the table where the teachers will judge him. Iruka sits down in the middle and get out his clipboard, asking Naruto a series of questions on ninjutsu, taijutsu, genjutsu, and chakra. After Naruto passed the first portion of the test, they moved on to test some of his shuriken and kuni skills and finally, test him on his bushin no cloned himself perfectly into two other beings, surprising Iruka. After a couple of minutes of silence, Iruka speaks up.  
"You passed..." Iruka said in bewilderment. He stared at Naruto in shock. "When did you learn all this?" he asked setting down his clipboard.  
"I did it on my own my time" Naruto said slightly bashful.  
Iruka is awe-strucked for a moment before he accepts Naruto's reply and hands him all of his necessary items in order for graduation.  
"Congratulations on becoming a ninja" Iruka tells him, slightly smiling.  
Naruto smiles back and bows, heading out of the room and back into the classroom. By now some early students have arrived and are waiting to be called into testing. Naruto slips into the somewhat noisy classroom and retrieves his stuff; however some jerks caught notice of the headband in his hands.  
"What'cha got there loser?"  
"Trying to steal your way to becoming a ninja?"  
"Think someone dumb like you can pass?"  
Before he knew it, Naruto was surrounded by some sniveling idiots who think they can one-up him.  
"I really did pass guys, can't you just drop this and let me go? don't you guys have to do some last minute studying or something?" Naruto said, trying to get through them.  
The bigger of the three pushed Naruto to the wall harshly, making a loud thud and causing Naruto to wince slightly.  
"What makes you think you can talk to us like that?" the big one asks. trying to loom over Naruto.  
Naruto looks him dead in the eye and sighs.  
"Why even bother picking a fight with me?" he asks them.  
"Just making sure you know your place runt" the big one says as the others nod and punch their own fists.  
Naruto braces to be punched, seeing no reason to fight these idiots.  
"What are you idiots doing?" a deep and incaring voice asks.  
"S-sasuke! what do you want!?" one of them asks.  
"For you digraces of ninjas to stop being so loud this early in the morning" Sasuke snarls.  
"Damn, he doesn't pull punches" Naruto thougt watching him as he enters the room and stares coldly at the trio.  
Some of the girls in the classroom snickers and whisper to each which seemed to make the boys calm down and back off.  
"Trying to stay on the girl's good side I see" Naruto says, trying to edge the boys more.  
They all clench there fists and send out threats to Naruto before they returned to their seats. Sasuke looks at the headband in Naruto's hands, then looks back at him.  
"Congratulations" he says before walking off to his seat.  
Naruto is taken aback by this.  
"First he gets me out of trouble then he congratulates me? What an odd guy" Naruto thought as he left the classroom. "Guess he's not as stuck up as I thought he was" Naruto thinks as he leaves the building to go get his picture taken.  
-meanwhile-  
"Good Morning Sasuke" Sakura and Ino squeal excitedly at the same time, glaring each after.  
Sasuke ignored them in favor of some quick reviewing, he knew he would pass, he wouldn't dishonor the Uchiha name. His mind trails off and soon he is thinking of his encounter with Naruto earlier.  
"He looked skinnier than usual, wonder if he's alright" Sasuke thought.  
It didn't surprise him that Naruto passed the test because for a long time now, Sasuke had kept an eye on Naruto to make sure he was okay. Sasuke couldn't bring up enough courage to confront Naruto though, so he watched his progress from the shadows and used Naruto as a rival to get better at being a ninja. He acted cool and cold hearted to keep others away from him and from his business. He hopes one day he can talk to Naruto and maybe even duel him without and restraints or with people watching them. Until then he'll watch Naruto, unoticed by the dobe and by the others surrounding them.


	2. Chapter 2

Before we begin again...

Hello fellow readers, welcome to chapter two of You Before Me.

I want to thank you guys for reading this story and contributing to it whether you follow, like, or comment on the story.

Please bear or help me on some mistakes I make about any jutsu or person, after all I am only human (maybe).

I look foreword to what you guys have to say!

"Are you sure he did that jutsu" the Third Hokage asks as he walks down the halls of his office with Iruka closely tailing him.

"Yes sir, there is no mistaking that that was the forbidden jutsu" Iruka replies seriously.

The Thrid ponders for a moment and rubs his beard as he enters his office. He walks over to the window and stares out the village. After some time he turns back around and calls an anbu over.

"I want you to go find Kakashi Hatake and tell him to come to my office" he orders the anbu.

With a nod and a sir, the anbu disappears and leaves Iruka alone with the Hokage.

"Why are you involving Kakashi?" Iruka asks?

The Third smiles at him and waits for Kakashi to arrive. Before long a knock on the door signals that the masked ninja had arrived. The Third signaled him in. Kakashi entered, nodding at Iruka before his diverted his attention to the Hokage.

"What did you need me for sir?" he asks.

"I have a very important mission for you Kakashi." the Third states.

"What is the mission sir?" Kakashi asks.

The Third goes to his desk and rummages around until he find a the paper he was looking for. He hand it to Kakashi and begins to describe his mission.

"I am going to put Naruto onto your team and I want you to keep a close eye on him, for we believe he could be plotting something against the village." The Third explains.

"Does he know about his parents and the Kyuubi yet?" Kakashi asks, handing back the paper.

"No, he has yet to read those scrolls"

Kakashi nods, "I accept this mission."

Iruka looks at Kakashi then back at the Hokage. The Third nods and dismisses both of the ninja. Before they split ways, Kakashi gestures Iruka to a seclude part of the building.

"I want you tell me all you know on Naruto" Kakashi asks Iruka, looking at him with an expressionless face."

"I'm afraid I can't tell you much on him, though he is loud and can be obnoxious I don't know much on him besides that he lives alone; however I did find something out."

Kakashi blinks, a sign to Iruka that he has his attention.

"Naruto is smarter than he appears but I think he won't show it because he wants to use it as an element of surprise" Iruks states.

Kakashi nods and dismisses Iruka, thanking him for the information. He walks outside the office and stares up at the blue clear sky. Kakashi had a funny feeling that this was the calm before a storm.

Naruto enters class the next day wearing his headband. Like usual, he came too early and no one was around to mess with or ignore him. He walked over to his spot and sat in it, pulling out a book to read while he waits for the room to fill. Almost an hour later, Iruka entered the room and began to prepare for the day. Naruto watched him for a bit before going back to reading. Every now and then, each of them would spare a glance at the other and watch them for a bit before returning to their tasks. Before long the first student entered the room and took their seat. Naruto put away his book and waited for the room to fill up. Once the room was filled with all the passing ninja, Iruka cleared his throat to alert the students that he was about to give them their team number.

"Starting with team 7 we have in the team Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, and Sasuke Uchiha" Iruka said nonchalantly.

Surprised whoops and sad whines erupted in the room, however those who were called remained quiet. Iruka continued to name of team members and tell the students where to meet their team leaders after lunch. Naruto stayed in the classroom for lunch while the rest of the student body clambered out of the door. Naruto didn't have anything for lunch or any money to buy so he decided he would read and wait for his team leader. Sasuke noticed how Naruto made no attempts to go get lunch so as he was walking down towards the door, he stopped in front of Naruto and placed a rice ball in front of him. Naruto looked up quizzically at him.

"What are you doing?" he asks.

"You don't have lunch right? Then eat this." Sasuke says coolly as he walks out the door.

Naruto watched him leave then stared down at the rice ball. He figured he might as well eat it since Sasuke didn't stay to take it back. He silently thanked Sasuke for the food and ate the rice ball.

"It delicious" he mumbles to himself, feeling his chest constrict.

Outside the classroom, Sasuke listens to Naruto and smiles when he hears the comment. He then walked away in order to go find a quiet place to eat.

...

After lunch all the students went to their respected places to meet their team including team 7; however something was missing.

"Where is that sensei of our?" Sakura asks tapping he foot on the floor impatiently.

Sasuke is quiet and Naruto just shrugs.

"Why are you so quiet Naruto? Shouldn't you be raising hell and playing some dumb prank like you always do? Come on, at least entertain us until he gets here" Sakura whines.

Sasuke glares at her while Naruto looks away.

"I'm not up for it, sorry Sakura-chan" Naruto politely refuses.

"Hn" Sasuske sighs and looks away.

 _How annoying_ , Sasuke thought.

Before long Kakashi finally showed up and apologized to them.

"Sorry I'm late guys, I got lost in life I guess" he said almost giddy.

None of the students bought into his act and they all properly scolded him for his tardiness.

"Anyway, why don't we get to know each other then? How about each of you state your name, your likes, dislikes, and why you want to be a ninja." Kakashi states.

"Well what about you sensei? we don't know anything about you and it would be fair if you told us about yourself" Sakura said.

Naruto and Sasuke nod in agreement. Kakashi sighs and crosses his arms.

"My name is Kakashi Hatake, I don't want to tell you my likes or dislikes and the reason I became a ninja is none of your concern" he states blandly.

The three young ninja stare at him and sigh, accepting his response. Sakura volunteers to go first and glances at Sasuke obviously to the three men around her.

"My name is Sakura Haruno, the thing I like, well the person I like is-" she stops and giggles.

Both Naruto and Sasuke roll their eyes, unnoticed by the pink haired girl.

"I hate Naruto" she says suddenly.

Sasuke glares at her darkly while Naruto looks off in the distance.

"You wouldn't be the first" Naruto says, ignoring her sneers.

Kakashi ushers the three to move forward, volunteering Sasuke against his will to speak.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha there is nothing I particularly like and there is too much I dislike . The reason I became a ninja was to find a certain someone." Sasuke states coolly.

 _Still an enigma_ , Naruto thinks to himself.

Satisfied with the response, Kakashi ushers Naruto to speak.

Nervously, Naruto spoke.

"My name is Naruto, I like to eat ramen. I dislike being ignored and the reason I became a ninja was to be out of the village as much as possible."

Sasuke looks at Naruto, trying to read his expression. Sakura ignores Naruto's story in favor of primping her nails. Kakashi stares at Naruto and nods.

After a couple minutes of silence, Kakashi speaks up.

"Alright, starting tomorrow morning we will begin some training, but be warned, if you fail this you'll be sent back to the academy."

Six wide eyes stare at the masked ninja and his hidden smile.

"This doesn't sound good" The three thought in union.

Kakashi hands them a paper with more details on the training and bids them farewell.

The three young ninja part ways and head on home to prepare for the next day.

"What's taking him so long?" Sakura complains.

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were waiting in the training field early in the morning for there sensei to arrive. Naruto and Sasuke lean against a fallen tree while Sakura paces back and forth in front of them, staring out at the field in hope of finding the masked jounin.

"Probably got lost in life," Naruto jokes.

Sasuke's mouth twitches with the poor impersonation of their sensei. Naruto continues to make silly and bad impersonations of their sensei. Sakura giggles a little before she catches herself and frowns, turning her back to Naruto. Noticing the change, Naruto stops and looks out onto the field. Sasuke, noticing the change prepares to speak but is interrupted.

"Nice to see everyone in high spirits this morning," Kakashi says, appearing behind the three young ninja.

Sakura begins to rail at Kakashi for his tardiness, Sasuke and Naruto watch the small girl rail against their teacher. The two boys look at each other and roll their eyes, sighing at the same time. Kakashi notices the actions and looks at the boys with suspicion.

 _Interesting_ , he muses to himself.

"Alright, shall we begin our examination?" Kakashi asks, gaining the attention of the others.

Sakura pouts but nods with the others. Kakashi takes two bells out and shows them to the group.

"Take these from me" he states.

Naruto looks at the group, then back at Kakashi.

"I see" he muses under his breath.

Sasuke catches what Naruto says and looks back at Kakashi with a hn.

Sakura stands there confused and starts to make a racket.

"Sensei there are only two bells and three of us!" she exclaims.

Kakashi nods, a hint of a smile forms under his mask.

Sasuke glares, one of us wont become a ninja, he states icily.

Kakashi nods. "Now get ready!"

The three back out into the woods after the jonin began their mission. Naruto stealthily comes next to Sasuke and Sakura.

"Let's work together to get the bells" he whispers to them.

Sasuke nods, but Sakura looks at him angrily.

"You go and distract him while me and Sasuke grab the bells" she states harshly towards Naruto.

Naruto glares right back at her, growling slightly under his breath, surprising the others. He catches him self and walks away before the others can imply. Sasuke follows him, leaving Sakura behind. He crouches next to Naruto and discusses their attack quietly. After some time, they begin their plan and attack Kakashi. The Jonin dodges their attack but slightly grins under the mask.

 _Iruka was right_ , he thinks to himself.

Sakura, not wanting to seem useless, joins in but cannot keep up with the boys. A lightbulb goes off in Kakashi's head, and he captures Sakura, pointing a Kunai to her neck.

 _Let's see how smart and skilled he actually is._

Both of the boys cease their movements and watch Kakashi.

"Sensei what are you doing!?" Sakura exclaims.

"Give up or I will kill the girl" Kakashi states, pressing his kunai to her neck to back up his threat.

Sasuke stands their confused and troubled by the escalation of the fight. He glances at Naruto, looking for a plan, only to find that what he sees is much more surprising than Kakashi's actions.

Naruto stands their with a huge, feral grin on his face. His eyes are wide in excitement and he shakes from head to toe. Sasuke turn to him, worried and concerned not of Naruto, but of those around Naruto.

"Sensei... you are very interesting...I see we share the same curiosity" Naruto states giddily.

The others stare at his crazed state in disbelief. Kakashi lowers his kunai slightly in shock, giving Naruto enough time to dash in front of him and knock the sensei over, stealing his bells and pushing Sakura aside. The other stare at Naruto, shocked and bewildered at him.

"Phew that was a close one" Naruto says as he gets off of Kakashi, wiping his brow and acting normal again.

"So does this mean we win Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asks holding the bells over him.

Kakashi sits up slowly, staring at him and nodding. Naruto grins happily and gives him back the bells.

"Cool! I'm starving!" Naruto exclaims as he heads out of the training field, all eyes on him.

Kakashi glares at his back.

 _He's more dangerous than I thought._

Hey everyone I am so so so so so so so sorry that I have not been updating and keeping up with my stories.

I've had to take some time to work with life and figure out the details of my stories. Now that I have a pretty good image on what I want to happen, I'm going to try and finish writing these stories. You may not hear from me for a while, but this time I'll be trying to write multiple chapters at a time and posting them every now and then. I don't know when I will finish this story because life has a funny way a keeping me busy but I will let you all know.

Let me know what your thoughts are and if you still enjoy my ideas.

See you all in my stories!


	3. Chapter 3: Bonding

"Are you sure that is what you saw?" the Third Hokage asks the masked Ninja.

Kakashi nods. " I saw no hints of him knowing about the Kyuubi, but I fear the beast may be influencing him in some way."

The Third ponders for a moment, then looks at Kakashi.

"Watch him carefully and see if you can find out more information." he states.

Kakashi nods and dismisses himself, leaving the Third pondering alone.

Naruto paces around his messy scrolls and books layered the floor as he searched high and low for something.

 _Not here either_ , he muses to himself.

He stands up and stares at the mess around him, sighing and turns around to begin to clean up. Suddenly a rock crashes through his window and hits him hard on the back of his head. Naruto winces and holds his head as he stumbles slightly, turning around to pick up the rock. He sighs at he reads what is painted on the rock.

 _Die!_

 _Never seen that one before ,_ Naruto thinks sarcastically as he adds the rock to his collection from the village. He steps back and views the amount of rocks and objects the village throws at him with angry messages on them. He worries about the lack of space for the objects and ultimately ignores the dilemma to go check out the broken window. He peaks outside to see who threw it. The road was empty to his disappointment. Naruto sighs and grabs his broom, sweeping up the broken glass and dumping it before he cuts his feet.

 _Need to get groceries_ he thinks before grabbing his shoes and wallet and leaving his small, crappy apartment.

Sasuke was out buying groceries for dinner when all of the sudden he hears a commotion in a nearby aisle. He sighs, he needs to go to that aisle and grab something. After a moment's hesitation, he decides he can't skip out on the item and walks to the next aisle. The village people were all murmuring to each other in a hush yet clearly noticeable tone.

 _What got their panties in a knot?_ Sasuke wonders.

He soon finds out when he enters the next aisle only to see Naruto with blood oozing from his head and into his white shirt, soiling it. Sasuke growls under his breath, upset with the villagers for letting the dobe walk around with a wound on his head. He confronts the blond.

"Dobe why is your head bleeding." He asks angrily.

Naruto look over at Sasuke, surprised to see him.

"Is that what that is? I thought someone poured water on me." He jokes.

Sasuke bites his inner cheek in frustration and grabs Naruto's arm, dragging him to the medical supplies aisle. Naruto, confused, lets Sasuke drag him across the store. Once they get there, Sasuke grabs a first aide kit and then drags Naruto to the check out. He sets his items down and then takes Naruto's few items, adding them to his basket. The cashiers gives a dirty look to the blonde, scanning the items with haste. Sasuke pays for the items and then drags the blonde out of the store.

"Your house is closer so we are going there" Sasukes states to the silent blonde.

Naruto nods, looking at Sasuke's hand on his arm. They get to Naruto's house where Naruto, now out of his stupor leads Sasuke into the apartment.

"Sorry for the mess," he idly states. Oh! It might be wise to keep your shoes on."

Confused but not willing to question the spiky blonde, Sasuke steps in, shoes and all. As Naruto shelved his groceries, Sasuke looked around at the scrolls and books on the floor, cringing at the blonde's lack of shelves and space.

 _Not the kind of mess I was expecting ,_ Sasuke thought as he dragged Naruto away from the attaching kitchen to his bathroom. He orders the blond to sit still against the bathtub as he gets out the first aide kit. He tends to the head wound, surprised that the blonde is calm and not all over the place like he expected.

 _Maybe he hit his head too hard,_ Sauske thinks as he finishes tending to Naruto's wound.

Sasuke steps out as Naruto changes, his attention drawn to the broken window and rocks strewn about the window sill. He steps closer to the window and picks up the rough textured rock. The hateful message makes his blood boil and he clenches his fists, tempted to throw each and every rock out the damn window.

"No one should be treated like this, no matter what" Sasuke states under his breath.

Naruto smiles slightly at Sasuke's statement managing to hear the brooding teen. A warm feeling creeps into his gut, sending shivers up his spine and down his arms. The feeling doesn't last long as a deep, growling voice appears in his head.

 ** **Do not trust anyone kit, they are all dangerous and want you dead,**** the voice tells him.

Naruto sighs and nods, entering the same space as Sasuke.

 _Relationships are too risky_ Naruto reminds himself.

Naruto offers to cook Sasuke dinner. After some argument about why Sasuke should eat ramen and why Naruto shouldn't, Sasuke finally won the argument and stood in Naruto's kitchen, cooking a more nutritious dinner. Naruto surprised Sasuke by helping him chop and cook.

"So you do know how to cook other than ramen dobe" Sasuke remarks.

"Yes teme, I know I can't survive on ramen alone" Naruto answers.

The boys continue to poke fun at the other as they cooked. Though Naruto promised himself he wouldn't get close to the stuck up icy Uchiha, he found himself laughing and smiling more at the raven's remarks. Sasuke too, lowered his guard a bit and let out a few grins every now and then. When their food was finally done, they ate in silence, avoiding eye contact with each other but still watching the other. They cleaned the dishes afterward as well as cleaned up the floor, stacking all the books and scrolls neatly in an unused corner of the room.

"Thank you teme" Naruto said suddenly as Sasuke stacked the last book.

Sasuke gives Naruto a satisfied "hn" and begins to pack up to leave. They bid each other good night and walked away, playing back the evening in their minds and smiling.

 _It seems we may be compatible teammates after all ,_ they both thought to themselves as they lied in their bed, waiting for sleep to overcome them.

Tomorrow was a new day.

It may have been a new day, but it was not the best day Naruto ever had. After begging Kakashi for missions abroad, Team 7 finally got one. Everything was going according to plan until they were attack by a group of rogue ninjas.

"I thought you said this was a simple escort mission!?" Naruto shouts at their client, Tazuna.

Kakashi's eyes widened slightly. He too was having suspicions when the team encountered the rogue ninjas. What surprised him was how fast the blonde caught onto the scene. After taking care of the ninjas, Kakashi has a quick word with Tazuna away from the others. Before he could get to the bottom of what was going on, he heard the young genins stir up a commotion.

"Naruto your hand is bleeding!" Sakura yells.

The team turns to the young blond, looking down at his oozing hand. Kakashi walks over to take a closer look at the wound. After a few seconds of examining it, he looks towards the blonde seriously.

"It's poison," he pronounces nonchalantly.

Tazuna and Sakura both gasp in shock as they stare at the blond. Kakshi stands up and tries to prepare the team to retreat back to the village to get Tazuna a proper jonin team as well as to get Naruto some proper treatment. Before he could even gather his things, he hears Sakura scream and the other two members gasp. Kakashi spins around to see what the team is looking at, only to have his eyes expand in disbelief. He sees the blonde standing silently in front of the team, carving his poisoned hand with a kunai causing blood to fall to a puddle at his feet. What was so off-putting wasn't the fact that the blonde was making his wound deeper, it as the fact that he was calmly opening the wound without a trace of pain or discomfort. When he was done, a look of determination sat on his face as he looks at each of his team members.

"We are not retreating from this mission, we are going to help Tazuna-san!"

Everyone stares at him, some in disbelief, some with anxiety, and others in suspicion. A snort breaks the silence and all heads turn to the disturbance. Sasuke walks over to the blonde, pulling out some bandages and begins to wrap his wounded hand; a small smile on his face.

"You're such an idiot."

Naruto blushes and returns an even bigger smile to Sasuke.

"I thought I was pretty cool!"

He receives a light smack on his head and a quiet dobe as Sasuke finished tending to his group eases a breath of relief seeing the two teens bicker like normal. After some arguing and talking amongst the group, they all decide to help escort Tazuna back to his village. They begin their journey anew and continue on the path to the village with Kakashi at the rear. As the group walked Kakashi kept a close eye on the blonde. He ponders to himself as he walks.

 _On the outside he looks like a normal kid, but he's smarter than he shows. There is something he is hiding and I'm going to find out what. This boy is dangerous, I need to be prepared for the worst._

Kakashi preps a few kunai up his sleeve without alerting the others. Little did he know that the blonde was also keeping an eye on him.

 ** **Watch yourself kit, he's waiting to strike.****

 _I know._


End file.
